Dissecting natural variation in sexually dimorphic gene expression. This project aims to understand the origins of sex differences by dissecting heritable variation in sexually dimorphic gene expression. Sexual dimorphism constitutes a large fraction of phenotypic diversity and arises mainly from sex differences in gene expression that permit males and females of a species to escape sexual conflict caused by a shared genome. The project uses multi-population quantitative genetics and allele-spec ....Dissecting natural variation in sexually dimorphic gene expression. This project aims to understand the origins of sex differences by dissecting heritable variation in sexually dimorphic gene expression. Sexual dimorphism constitutes a large fraction of phenotypic diversity and arises mainly from sex differences in gene expression that permit males and females of a species to escape sexual conflict caused by a shared genome. The project uses multi-population quantitative genetics and allele-specific expression assays to merge the studies of sex-specific local adaptation and sexually dimorphic regulatory variation. The project will help to understand how cis- and trans- regulatory factors can affect natural variation differently in males and females, shaping their phenotypic similarities and differences.Read moreRead less
Genetic architecture and evolution of complex traits across populations. Most human traits have a genetic component and display substantial diversity within and among populations. How natural selection changes and maintains genetic variation in human traits is a long-standing question in evolution that the proposed project aims to answer. Using innovative statistical methods and largest genomic “big” datasets ever across populations of different ancestral backgrounds, this project expects to gen ....Genetic architecture and evolution of complex traits across populations. Most human traits have a genetic component and display substantial diversity within and among populations. How natural selection changes and maintains genetic variation in human traits is a long-standing question in evolution that the proposed project aims to answer. Using innovative statistical methods and largest genomic “big” datasets ever across populations of different ancestral backgrounds, this project expects to generate new knowledge on the roles of natural selection in shaping the genetic variation in traits and identify key factors that drive the differentiation of human populations. These outcomes will significantly improve our understanding on the evolution of human traits and adaptation of populations to changing environments.Read moreRead less
Characterising inheritance patterns of whole genome DNA methylation. This project aims to characterise epigenetic diversity and inheritance patterns in whole genome sequencing data from a unique human population. The project will employ the well-characterised Norfolk Island genetic isolate, cost-effective whole genome bisulphite sequencing technologies and advanced bioinformatics pipelines and statistical models. It will involve cross-discipline collaboration between human geneticists, epigeneti ....Characterising inheritance patterns of whole genome DNA methylation. This project aims to characterise epigenetic diversity and inheritance patterns in whole genome sequencing data from a unique human population. The project will employ the well-characterised Norfolk Island genetic isolate, cost-effective whole genome bisulphite sequencing technologies and advanced bioinformatics pipelines and statistical models. It will involve cross-discipline collaboration between human geneticists, epigeneticists, statistical geneticists and bioinformaticians. This project will advance our understanding of the interaction of genetics and epigenetics and their relationship to diversity and inheritance in humans.Read moreRead less
The nature of standing genetic variation. This project aims to expand understanding of the genetic variation underlying phenotypic differences among individuals. The nature of genetic variation has broad consequences across biology, from the detection of causal genetic variants to the adaptation of natural populations. This project will take a novel experimental approach to test several long-standing assumptions about the effects of new mutations on individual traits and their joint pleiotropic ....The nature of standing genetic variation. This project aims to expand understanding of the genetic variation underlying phenotypic differences among individuals. The nature of genetic variation has broad consequences across biology, from the detection of causal genetic variants to the adaptation of natural populations. This project will take a novel experimental approach to test several long-standing assumptions about the effects of new mutations on individual traits and their joint pleiotropic effect on fitness. By expanding our understanding of how mutation, selection and drift interact, this project could provide significant improvements in our understanding of the genetic basis of phenotypes, and our ability to predict phenotypic evolution.Read moreRead less
Why does the genetic nearly-null subspace exist? This project aims to determine why nearly-null genetic subspaces exist by simultaneously measuring the input of new mutational variance in these nearly-null subspaces and the selection that acts on these new mutations to result in the observed low levels of standing genetic variance. The ability of organisms to evolve in response to human disturbance, translocation to new environments, or climate variation is governed by the availability of geneti ....Why does the genetic nearly-null subspace exist? This project aims to determine why nearly-null genetic subspaces exist by simultaneously measuring the input of new mutational variance in these nearly-null subspaces and the selection that acts on these new mutations to result in the observed low levels of standing genetic variance. The ability of organisms to evolve in response to human disturbance, translocation to new environments, or climate variation is governed by the availability of genetic variation. Recent advances in multivariate genetic analysis have demonstrated that a substantial proportion of a phenotype described by quantitative traits has very little genetic variance associated with it, and will therefore tend to be subjected to evolutionary limitsRead moreRead less
2D Multiferroics: From Materials Design to Device Conceptualization. This project aims to design new transistors with high efficiency and low energy costing for the storage applications based on two-dimensional multifunctional heterostructures. Extensive computational simulations and joint experiments will be employed to develop fundamental knowledge essential to understanding the phenomena of magnetoelectric coupling, which is used to guide rational device design and implementation. The designe ....2D Multiferroics: From Materials Design to Device Conceptualization. This project aims to design new transistors with high efficiency and low energy costing for the storage applications based on two-dimensional multifunctional heterostructures. Extensive computational simulations and joint experiments will be employed to develop fundamental knowledge essential to understanding the phenomena of magnetoelectric coupling, which is used to guide rational device design and implementation. The designed magnetoelectric heterostructures and the multiferroic devices are expected to provide strong foundations for technological innovations resulting in devices with superior functionality and efficiency. The outcome of the project will significantly benefit high-tech electronics.Read moreRead less
Sustainable Electrocatalytic Synthesis of Urea. Urea is a critical chemical for agriculture, the chemical industry and pollution control, yet current production methods are unsustainable. This project aims to design high-efficiency catalysts for electrochemical urea synthesis from theoretical studies. This project expects to generate new knowledge of chemistry and catalysis from new reaction mechanisms and materials. Expected outcomes include optimum catalysts with high conversion efficiency and ....Sustainable Electrocatalytic Synthesis of Urea. Urea is a critical chemical for agriculture, the chemical industry and pollution control, yet current production methods are unsustainable. This project aims to design high-efficiency catalysts for electrochemical urea synthesis from theoretical studies. This project expects to generate new knowledge of chemistry and catalysis from new reaction mechanisms and materials. Expected outcomes include optimum catalysts with high conversion efficiency and reactant selectivity. The novel catalysts have the potential to deliver improved catalytic performance and controllable reaction reactants. This could deliver significant benefits to the crop production increase, cost reduction of chemical industry, and environmental pollution reduction.Read moreRead less
Corrosion triggered self-passivation of magnesium alloys . This project aims to sustainably protect magnesium alloys from aqueous corrosion in engineering services through an unprecedented self-passivation mechanism (analogues to stainless steel). This project is expected to generate new knowledge in the area of passivation mechanisms for magnesium alloys in corrosive environments through high-throughput screening and in-situ corrosion characterisation at atomic scale. This should provide signif ....Corrosion triggered self-passivation of magnesium alloys . This project aims to sustainably protect magnesium alloys from aqueous corrosion in engineering services through an unprecedented self-passivation mechanism (analogues to stainless steel). This project is expected to generate new knowledge in the area of passivation mechanisms for magnesium alloys in corrosive environments through high-throughput screening and in-situ corrosion characterisation at atomic scale. This should provide significant benefits, such as enabling the debut of a scientific strategy to transform the magnesium alloy market with respect to end use (such as electric car industry), energy composition and emissions, which has significant industrial interest as it will provide new opportunities to minimise carbon footprint.Read moreRead less
Carbon Molecular Sieve Membranes for Organic Solvent Separation. Directly addressing the pressing challenge of organic solvent separation faced by numerous industries, the project aims to develop molecular sieve membranes with outstanding selectivity and solvent tolerance by constructing zeolite-carbon mixed matrix membrane via incorporating zeolite nanosheets into carbon materials. The project expects to generate advanced knowledge of nanosheet synthesis, membrane fabrication and selective mole ....Carbon Molecular Sieve Membranes for Organic Solvent Separation. Directly addressing the pressing challenge of organic solvent separation faced by numerous industries, the project aims to develop molecular sieve membranes with outstanding selectivity and solvent tolerance by constructing zeolite-carbon mixed matrix membrane via incorporating zeolite nanosheets into carbon materials. The project expects to generate advanced knowledge of nanosheet synthesis, membrane fabrication and selective molecule transport. The membranes developed in the project have great potentials for improving the production capacity and sustainability of Australian industries, e.g., pharmaceutical manufacturing, bioethanol production and petroleum refining, providing significant economic and environmental benefits to Australia.Read moreRead less
Identification of causal variants for complex traits. The aim of this project is to identify causal variants for complex traits in cattle and humans. Although most important traits in agriculture, medicine and evolution are complex traits, very few of the genetic variants affecting these traits are known and this undermines our understanding of how genetic variants affect a trait and practical uses of this knowledge. Huge datasets of individuals with genome sequence and phenotypes and new statis ....Identification of causal variants for complex traits. The aim of this project is to identify causal variants for complex traits in cattle and humans. Although most important traits in agriculture, medicine and evolution are complex traits, very few of the genetic variants affecting these traits are known and this undermines our understanding of how genetic variants affect a trait and practical uses of this knowledge. Huge datasets of individuals with genome sequence and phenotypes and new statistical methods provide the opportunity to close this gap. The outcome will be identification of many genomic variants causing variation in complex traits. This will benefit scientific understanding of complex traits and the ability to predict traits for individuals from their genome sequence.Read moreRead less